“Faded Flowers” from Bull's Head Rare Books

Bull's Head Rare Books has issued their Catalogue Three. Faded Flowers. The explanation for the vague title has to do with a comment a visitor made about older books, their physically showing their age a bit, like faded flowers. Bull's Head is quick to point out that some old books are still in fine shape, but even those looking a bit drab on the outside still shine brightly on the inside. None of us look 18 any more, but inside our minds remain fine, or at least, very good. Here are a few of these flowers, faded or not.

We begin with a spectacular bible, one Bull's Head describes as “a monument of English scholarship and typography.” Despite that, and despite being known as the London or Walton Bible, and it being a polyglot Bible written in six languages and partially two others, English is not one of the languages. It must have been too modern a tongue. This is the Biblio sacra polyglotta, and its languages are Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Samaritan, and Arabic. Some texts are also in Ethiopic and Persian. It was edited by Bishop of Chester Brian Walton and published in London, hence its two names. It is described as the fourth and most accurate of the great polyglots, this one having the second preface (omitting mention of Cromwell's assistance in the publication). It was published in six volumes, 1655-1657. Item 13. Priced at $15,000.

This is an important book, one Bull's Head describes as “one of the foundational texts of the British abolition movement.” It was one of the first, this being a first edition published in 1788. The title is An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa. The author, Alexander Falconbridge, was an unlikely pioneer. He served as surgeon on four slave trading voyages from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean. However, he met abolitionist Thomas Clarkson on the latter's mission to gather evidence on the slave trade. Clarkson convinced Falconbridge to talk about what he saw. It was pure horror, and Falconbridge was won over to the cause. He spoke about the kidnapping of slaves, their brutal treatment, and the horror of the Middle Passage below deck. Slaves were chained to the floor, so cramped together they could barely move. He says, “the deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux (dysentery), that it resembled a slaughterhouse.” While 6,000 copies were reported to have been printed, the book has become very rare in trade. Item 33. $12,500.

This next book was a pioneering work in America on a subject that is at the forefront of issues we confront today. It is the first American book on non-medicinal drugs, and the first in English on cannabis. The year was 1857 and drugs weren't a major issue in America, though undoubtedly they were present in the underside of society. The book is The Hasheesh Eater: Being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean (although Pythagoras was known more for eating beans than cannabis). Writer Fitz Hugh Ludlow, like so many of later generations, began using hasheesh, a more powerful extract of cannabis, when he was in college. He tested out numerous drugs as something of an experiment, one of which was a supposed tetanus cure which contained hasheesh. Obviously, that is the one he liked. It took him to all sorts of places he had never been before, even if only in his mind. He writes about his visions and imagined experiences in his account. He was a writer and he believed it made him more creative. For a few years, he was under its spell almost all the time. Eventually, he became disillusioned, believed it was addictive, and took up tobacco instead. He died at age 34, but there were other issues besides drugs involved. He was always sickly and tuberculosis is unforgiving. Item 51. $1,250.

These next two books are notable for their provenance more than themselves. The first is An Essay, Historical and Critical, on the Mechanism of Parturition by William Leishman, published in 1864. The second is Traité Pratique des Maladies de l'Utérus et de ses Annexes... by Amédée-Hippolyte-Pierre Courty, published in 1866. These are a pair of medical texts. They also represent a major achievement in the quest for women's equality. The first book belonged to Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the U.S. and modern Europe to earn a medical degree. Women were denied the right to study medicine in her time. She only earned that opportunity in an unintended way. Blackwell wanted to enter the field as she knew a woman who had uterine cancer, but because of modesty, declined to see a male doctor until it was too late. She understood the need for female doctors. However, her applications to medical school were repeatedly rejected. Then she decided to apply to Geneva Medical College in upstate New York, not one of the better known schools. The faculty decided to put an end to her application by saying they would put her application in the hands of its students, expecting the all-male students to reject her too. However, the students decided to trick the faculty. They voted her in. Two years later, Elizabeth Blackwell graduated first in a class of 150. She would go on to run an infirmary to serve poor women, organized women's nursing services during the Civil War, and opened medical schools for women in New York and London. However, not all of her ideas were quite so progressive, such as opposition to vaccination and questioning the importance of bacteria in disease. The second book belonged to her sister, Emily Blackwell, the third woman in America to receive a medical degree. Emily was rejected at Geneva Medical College, their not wanting to make the same mistake twice, but eventually gained admission to the medical college at Western Reserve University. She served with her sister at numerous times, including both as professors at their school in New York. Item 16. $15,000.

Thomas Bewick was one of, if not the greatest, wood engraver ever. He was also an artist with a specialty for birds. This item covers both – British Land Birds; British Water Birds, published in 1825. This copy has 302 proof plates, 156 of 157 wood-engraved land birds, 146 of 157 water birds. It is one of 100 copies printed. It is kind of an odd book. It contains no captions or descriptions. Fortunately, someone has added in contemporary manuscript captions with common and Latin bird names. The explanation is in a personal letter Bewick wrote: I, last summer printed 100 sets 4to of Birds & Quadrupeds, without Type for the sole use of Artists (& when interleaved) of Naturalists.” Item 12. $6,000

Bull's Head Rare Books may be reached at 908-310-8554 or info@bullsheadbooks.com. Their website is www.bullsheadbooks.com.